141st APHA Annual Meeting

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Opening doors into communities: An evaluation of a hybridized promotora model for engaging the Chinese immigrant community in lead poisoning prevention in seattle, Washington

Monday, November 4, 2013

Tiffany Sin, MPH candidate , Department of Environmental Health Services, Public Health, Seattle and King County, Seattle, WA
Tracee Mayfield, RS
Karen Hartfield, MPH , Academic Partnership Coordinator, Public Health - Seattle & King County, Seattle, WA
Amina Ahmed
Background & Objectives: Promotora (Spanish for ‘Promoter') is an engagement model where trusted community members utilize their own social networks to provide health education and social support to promote changes. Because the model has been successful in Latino communities and elsewhere globally, Public Health—Seattle and King County (PHSKC) worked with a local NGO to adapt the model for lead poisoning prevention in the Chinese-speaking immigrant community in the Beacon Hill neighborhood where residents are at increased risk of lead exposure due to the age of housing units. We evaluated the effectiveness of the Promotora education model in enhancing community engagement, increasing environmental health knowledge, and promoting behavior change in the Chinese community.

Methodology:We recruited bilingual Promotoras to lead 13 workshops in the community. We provided technical support through content expertise, training, and educational materials, while Promotoras developed a curriculum based on participant feedback. Classroom observations, interviews with Promotoras, pre-and post- workshop surveys, and 1-month follow-up phone surveys were conducted to measure participant satisfaction, willingness to engage in future workshops, and changes in knowledge.

Results: Promotoras were successful in recruiting 114 participants, including 6 participants who hosted workshops at home for their friends and family. At one-month follow-up, the overwhelming majority of participants shared their new knowledge with someone and expressed interest in becoming a Promotora. Participants emphasize the importance of attending the workshop with friends and receiving language-concordant instructors and materials. Participants also demonstrated an increase in lead knowledge and a positive health behaviors changes.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that Chinese families residing on Beacon Hill are willing to learn from a bilingual health educator in traditional workshop or residential setting. Results support that Promotoras can successfully recruit participants and promote the sharing of environmental health knowledge within tight-knit social networks in Chinese-speaking and other underserved populations.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Diversity and culture
Environmental health sciences
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs

Learning Objectives:
Identify the components of a Promotora engagement model. Discuss strategies for evaluating the Promotora model. Describe lessons learned by Public Health –Seattle King County while utilizing the Promotora model for increasing lead-based paint hazard awareness in the Chinese immigrant community.

Keywords: Lead, Community-Based Public Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a Master's in Public Health student at the Community-Oriented Public Health Practice Program at the University of Washington and the project coordinator for the Chinese Promotora Project for Public Health, Seattle and King County. I am passionate about implementing strategies to decrease health inequities in underserved and vulnerable populations.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.